Another big name on the trade front has found a new home. Domantas Sabonis is headed west as the Pacers and Kings completed a 6 player deal this afternoon.
The full trade sees Indiana send Domantas Sabonis, Jeremy Lamb, Justin Holiday and a 2027 2nd round pick to Sacramento in exchange for Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, and Tristan Thompson. In executing the trade, the Pacers also created a $6M trade exemption in the deal.
Sabonis was considered to be among the most coveted names on the trading block heading into Thursday’s 3pm trade deadline. The 6’11” power forward is currently averaging 18.9pts/12.1reb/5.0ast this season, and is 3rd in the NBA for double doubles this year trailing only Jokic and Gobert.
The trade is interesting not only because of who was involved, but also what it does to the Kings and Pacers rosters as a result. Sacramento clearly felt they had too many guards with Fox, Mitchell, and Haliburton all competing for minutes, while the Pacers had two players with similar skill sets in Sabonis and Myles Turner.
With the swap, the Kings evidently believe that former Baylor guard Davion Mitchell can step into a more prominent role, while bolstering their front court with one of the league’s premier big men. Meanwhile in Indiana, whether the Pacers now elect to keep Turner rather than sell him off to the highest bidder remains to be seen.
While many will focus on Haliburton and Sabonis as the primary pieces of the deal, lost in the shuffle is the fact that one of the league’s best 3pt shooters is also changing teams. Buddy Hield is currently 3rd in the NBA in made 3 pointers this season, connecting at a 36.8% rate from beyond the arc. That figure is actually down from his career average of 40% , however most of his other stats remain close to his usual splits.
Since debuting in 2016, only Stephen Curry and James Harden have hit more 3’s than the former Oklahoma Sooners shooting guard. The Pacers are next in action tonight against Atlanta, while the Kings take on the Minnesota Timberwolves.